An Emmett Till memorial sign marking the historical site of his death in Jackson, Mississippi, was recently found having been shot up by 40 bullet holes. On Saturday [October 22], the goal of raising funds to restore the memorial was met.
The desecration of the sign came to the public's attention when a local film student stumbled upon it while scouting out film locations. "It kind of spoke to the racial climate in this country not just in the area," Kevin White told CNN affiliate WJTV, which reported on the incident after a photo of the damage, taken by White, went viral on Facebook. It is the second time the Tallahatchie County memorial has been defaced, with a similar case occurring in 2008. Word of the damage would reach the Emmett Till Interpretive Center, which started a fundraiser in it's name, that received over $15,000 by Saturday morning.
Emmitt Till was 14-years-old when his body was discovered in the Tallahatchie River. A pair of white men were indicted for having committed the murder under the pretense that he had made a sexual advance towards a married white woman. Images of Till's unrecognizable face, at his wake, went public, and further outrage was sparked when the suspects were acquitted by an all-white jury. The case would rattle the Black community in 1955 Mississippi, serving as a catalyst for the great mobilization towards civil rights that would come at the call of such leaders as Martin Luther King, Jr. in the years that followed.
Source: youtube.com
